Acting RBZ chief Dhliwayo’s tenure extended

FINANCE minister Patrick Chinamasa has extended the term of office of acting central bank governor Charity Dhliwayo until a substantive governor is appointed, businessdigest has established.

This replaces the arrangement set in place by former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono. Dhliwayo has been appointed to act as the RBZ Governor for a three month period. The acting RBZ governorship would have rotated to the other deputy governor Kupukile Mlambo.

Sources said Chinamasa had made the decision to ensure “continuity and consistency” at the central bank.

“To this end . . . Dr Charity Dhliwayo will be the first of the two to act as governor for the period December 1 2013 to February 28 2014 and Dr Kupikile Mlambo to also act for three months after, before reverting back to Dr Dhliwayo if no decision is made before then,” Gono said in his farewell statement as his term came to an end.

The decision comes after Dhliwayo presented her maiden monetary policy statement recently where she among other measures, clamped down on insider loans as well as introducing additional currencies such as the Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupee and the Australian Dollar in a bid to breathe life into the economy.

Dhliwayo is responsible for bank supervision and surveillance and has been deputy governor for ten years. She has been with the central bank for over 25 years and becomes the first female candidate to emerge a strong contender for the post since the RBZ’s inception in 1956.

Economist Eric Bloch said the move by Chinamasa will ensure continuity especially if he still needs more time to find a substantive governor to replace Gono.

ERIC BLOCK is one of the board member of the central bank, whether he quakifies to or not its something else. Remember Eric inherited the family consulting firm and he is not an economist of the sought of Prof Hawkins and others. For him to come as an independent economist and tell us about continuity is something else. He must just learn to advise the government on printing more more, generating misleading inflation figures and spend the director fees quietly. Unondinyangadza Erect